A series of commentaries by Mary T. Hoffman about: humans and animals and the cruelty inflicted upon them;
prayer and grace, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives; and the problems that plague our lives in this
corrupted world.

Blocking the Holy Spirit
By Mary T. Hoffman

I think that it is the Holy Spirit that allows humans to discern the
emotions and personalities of animals. Most, or many, humans want to ignore
the promptings of the Holy Spirit and say that animals “act by instinct
only” or “don’t have souls and spirits.”

These people, especially if they consider themselves to be Christians,
are blocking the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus says that unless you become
as children… Matt 18:2-4:

2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,

3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven.

Until they are programmed or socialized by adults, most children have
tender feelings toward animals.

Being “born again” as a Christian should result in a return to a
child-like wonder and sensitivity, an ability to see beyond the hardness of
the world. Remember what 1 John 2:15-17 says about the world:

15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the
world.

17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does
the will of God abides forever.

Truly being “born again” should result in ridding ourselves of the
deceptions of the world and in having our eyes opened. When we have our eyes
opened we see things as a child sees things: afresh, free of the half-truths
and lies that the world so readily accepts and lives by. Remember the story
of the emperor’s new clothes? It was the adults who were “oohing” and “aahing”
about the non-existent clothes of the proud emperor. The child, his eyes yet
unclouded by society’s lies, told the truth: the emperor has no clothes.

Being truly born again should result in getting rid of all the layers of
hypocrisy that one’s culture imposes and then finally getting back to seeing
clearly as God intends.

Most children, being naturally attracted to animals, are tenderhearted,
as God intends. It is not natural to slaughter. Children would be naturally
vegetarian if not twisted and manipulated by adults who themselves have been
twisted and manipulated into consuming what was not God’s original food for
humans: Genesis1:29:

29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant
yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which
has fruit, yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

I find it interesting that after being born again as Christians, Frank
and I became more aware about the plight of animals. Our sensitivity
increased after our spiritual eyes were opened. Finally, we could no longer
knowingly use animal products. We had “teachable spirits,” to use the
Bible’s description.

When I think of all the people in this world, I am reminded of the
passage in Matthew 13:30 in which Jesus tells about the wheat and the tares:

30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in
the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares
and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my
barn.”’

II think of the sensitive people as being the wheat, and the boors who
mock and jeer at them as being the tares.

Fair Use Notice: This document, and others on our web site, may contain copyrighted
material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners.
We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use
of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law).
If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use,
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.